Foil, Individual, Men

Italy’s Daniele Garozzo was the defending gold medalist but he had only one medal individually at the World Championships, a bronze in 2017. The last three World Championships had been won by three different fencers – Dmitry Zherebchenko (RUS) in 2017, Alessio Foconi (ITA) in 2018, and Enzo Lefort (FRA) in 2019, although Zherebchenko was not present in Tokyo. The #1 seed was the United States’ Gerek Meinhardt.

Meinhardt did not last long, losing his first match to Vladislav Mylnikov (ROC), the #33 seed. Garozzo and Lefort advanced to the quarter-finals, where they would face each other. Foconi lost in the round of 16 to Edgar Cheung of Hong Kong, China, who had little international experience outside of Asia, and was seeded 15th.

Garozzo handled Lefort easily in the quarters and he and Cheung would advance to the finals. Cheung won the final in an upset, defeating Garozzo 15-11. He would come back at Paris 2024 and defend his gold medal, something only done twice before, by Nedo Nadi (ITA) in 1912-20 and Christian d’Oriola (FRA) in 1952-56.